Obamacare

A federal judge's ruling that the Obama health law is unconstitutional has landed like a stink bomb among Republicans, who've seen the politics of health care flip as Americans increasingly value the overhaul's core parts, including protections for pre-existing medical conditions and Medicaid for more low-income people.

The Affordable Care Act faces a new legal challenge after a federal judge in Texas ruled the law unconstitutional on Friday. The decision risks throwing the nation's health care system into turmoil should it be upheld on appeal. But little will be different in the meantime.

A conservative federal judge in Texas has ruled the Affordable Care Act "invalid" on the eve of the sign-up deadline for next year. But with appeals certain, even the Trump White House said the law will remain in place for now.

Like millions of Americans in this final week of open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, Diane McCabe is shopping for health insurance.

"At my age, I can't go without it, even though I'm healthy now," says McCabe. She's 62 and a self-employed real estate agent in Luzerne County, Pa. "But the process is frustrating, and the expense significant."

Signups for health insurance through the federal marketplaces are down as the open enrollment period comes to an end. But more than half a million Floridians could be eligible for tax credits that would cover the cost of one of the insurance plans.

It's open enrollment season for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. After a series of repeal efforts and back-and-forth on the so-called Obamacare at the federal level, there's a lot of confusion to sort out.

Health News Florida has pulled together a Q&A to help you navigate your health insurance shopping experience:

Q: Do we still have to buy insurance?

A: There's no longer a penalty for going without insurance. But let's back up here a little.

In recent years, some cities, including Memphis and Phoenix, withered into health insurance wastelands, as insurers fled and premiums skyrocketed in the insurance marketplaces that were set up under the Affordable Care Act.

But today, as in many parts of the U.S., these two cities are experiencing something unprecedented: Insurance premiums are sinking and choices are sprouting.

Open enrollment for health insurance plans in the Affordable Care Act marketplace for 2019 coverage started Thursday and consumers will have less help navigating several changes that were put in place.

Health insurance wasn't available through his job, so Jose Nuñez turned to Medicaid, the nation's public insurance program that assists 75 million low-income Americans.

Like most people on Medicaid, the Los Angeles trucker was assigned to a private insurance company that coordinated his medical visits and treatment in exchange for receiving a set fee per month — an arrangement known as managed care.

After two years of double-digit price hikes, the average premium for individual health coverage on the federal health law’s insurance marketplace will drop by 1.5 percent for 2019, the Trump administration said Thursday.

Arizona's new senator says he'd vote to repeal the nation's health care law. That's one additional Republican ready to obliterate the statute because his predecessor, the late Sen. John McCain, helped derail the party's drive with his fabled thumbs-down vote last year.

Florida Democrats vowing to make health care a priority in the November elections got a jolt of surprising news this week that could reshape the ongoing back-and-forth over former President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul.

A congressional watchdog said the Trump administration needs to step up its management of sign-up seasons for former President Barack Obama's health care law after mixed results last year in the throes of a failed GOP effort to repeal it.

When Tracy Deis decided in 2016 to transition from a full-time job to part-time contract work, the loss of her employer’s health insurance was not a major worry because she knew she could get coverage through the marketplace set up by the Affordable Care Act.